A Reel Review: TOMB RAIDER

One of the most bewildering mysteries in cinema is why movies based on video games always turn out to be dead turkeys. With the advances in technology, modern gaming has become cinematic themselves, so the job of a filmmaker is to simply move things over from the small screen to the big. The latest version of TOMB RAIDER needed only to do that to succeed.

Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander), is an orphan working as a bicycle courier in London who has never accepted the disappearance of her father (Dominic West). When she finds a hidden clue to her father’s final mission, she enlists the help of a drunken sailor (Daniel Wu), to a journey to an unmarked island, where she races to find a mystical tomb with rumored powers…before it can be found by a shadowy organization called Trinity, assisted by Vogel (Walton Goggins).

The bulk of the Tomb Raider video games has always been simple; run through the jungle, avoid perils, shoot the bad guys, solve puzzles to get inside an ancient tomb to find a mystical thingy. Even if a non-gamer goes into the movie clean, the title TOMB RAIDER implies that’s the movie to be seen. Right away, this version of the game stumbles right out of the gate by saddling everything with a dragging origin story. Cutting to the chase: Lara Croft isn’t really Lara Croft until the closing minutes of the film, and she spends the other 98% of the movie stumbling into one fix after another. She’s an onlooker, and becomes a hero by accident.

Action and adventure should have been priority, and director Roar Uthaug, whose name sounds like a video game monster, takes the material way too seriously. The film tries to be a self-important drama which sucks the life out of the adventure. Set-pieces such as a chase through the jungle, a waterfall escape, and solving a few puzzles in a tomb (when the film mercifully finally gets there) have very little sense of tension or dread, and a bicycle chase through London in the early goings is pointless and feels like it belongs in another movie. The film lacks a true heartbeat with no sense of fun, energy, or the least little bit of joy. There’s also a lack of balance between the practical stunts (which are very good), and the lousy CGI spectacle (which are very bad). This is one bland adventure.

But there is one great quality that this TOMB RAIDER has, and that is the magnificent and lovely Alicia Vikander. Vikander gives it her absolute best in every scene, and the physical demands that she meets are very impressive. The character goes through some pain, both physical and mental, and she sells it. The rest of the cast is as bland as the rest of the film, although Walton Goggins is spectacular as always.

Vikander’s performance isn’t enough to save TOMB RAIDER from the turkey label, but it’s close. She’s great to watch during the action and the dramatic parts, and what she does is enough to want to see her again in the role with a better script and director. This version of TOMB RAIDER exists to set up further sequels, which is common in blockbuster filmmaking these days, and that would be fine if it wasn’t too much origin and not enough hero. If there was any rule that video game movies need to follow to succeed, it’s Don’t Be Boring, and this one manages to break it. Worthwhile for the lead actress only.

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it